Rachel was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Sulawesi. She embraced challenges like finding ants in her food to unravel her fears and came away reflecting on how race shapes our experience. I asked how she became such a good storyteller … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
Armen was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Mauritius. I asked how the experience changed him … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Listen to Armen's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/armen-kassabian/id1451319621 Consider donating to Westin's Fund: https://www.westinsfund.org/
Joan took part in this past August’s “Digital Dunkirk,” the frantic effort to help Afghans escape the Taliban when the U.S. withdrew after two decades in Afghanistan. During those sleepless nights, she began advocating, writing articles calling on the U.S. government to honor its commitment to the people who served alongside its military. I asked how Afghans came to mean so much to her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé . Click to read ...
Aziza told me the religious police arrested her and her fiancé in Saudi Arabia. The interrogator asked, “Did you hit the religious police?” I was like, “Damn yes I did!” I asked if that experience changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to Westin's Fund: westinsfund.org “Peculiar traveling suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” —Kurt Vonnegut
Jean was readier to answer my questions—as if he had somehow prepared—than anyone I have interviewed in the course of this project when we met randomly at a fountain in an alcove of Casablanca’s wondrous mosque by the sea. I asked him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/ "Family is never lost." —Creole Proverb
Étienne has decorated his entire Paris apartment with paraphernalia from The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s book. I asked what happened when he came home from nearly a year traveling the world ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/ "On n'est jamais content là où on est." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Caracola left Buenos Aires at 19 to study anthropology in Paris but soon realized her calling is to be a clown. She has been studying intensely and touring the world performing in streets and studios ever since. I asked whether she has traveled to be able to perform or performed to be able to travel ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Follow Caracola on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caracolaaaa/ Consider donating to Westin's Fund: ...
Mohibul runs the restaurant his father established when he moved from Bangladesh to London. They named it Al-Amin, which means “trust.” I asked how he learned to connect so well with his customers ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Visit Al-Amin Restaurant in East London: https://alaminrestaurant.com/ Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/ "I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do." —Henry D...
Anja left Bosnia as a toddler and lives there now to reconnect with her roots. I asked if she has found herself in her journeys ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to Westin's Fund (westinsfund.org). Learn more about Youth Power (https://www.youth-power.org/). “The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of w...
Indra broke up with his girlfriend in Turkey just months into traveling the world together and set off the series of events that brought him to South Korea. He almost died in Mexico. I asked whether he’s going to write all these experiences ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to Westin's Fund, an organization that covers the medical costs of families who lose children to stillbirth and miscarriage: http://www.westinsfu...
Meytal felt uncomfortable just following the typical path of a young Israeli, school, the army, job, and so she found another path that took her to India—and eventually, back to Israel. I asked whether people here comment on her Yemeni roots ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boule. Consider donating to Westin's Fund (http://www.westinsfund.org/). "If you want to study yourself—look into the hearts of other people." —Friedrich von Schiller
Odna was summoned by the police in Nazareth and questioned about her Facebook activity. They said they were secretly listening to her conversations as well. I asked what her name means ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Consider donating to Westin's Fund (http://www.westinsfund.org/). "I have been a stranger here in my own land." Sophocles
Frank McCourt wrote his beloved memoir, Angela’s Ashes, about a childhood spent in Ireland. Una Heaten turned the schoolhouse he attended into a museum honoring his book and his legacy. I traveled to Limerick to ask what it’s like to build a museum ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Consider donating to the WestinsFund.org. Visit the Frank McCourt Museum: https://frankmccmuseum.wixsite.com/ "Telling stories is sure medicine." —Primo Le...
Nellie Bly set out in 1889 to beat Jules Verne’s fictional circumnavigation of the globe by ten days and report along the way, but that’s only one among her many adventures. I asked Nathan Mannion of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum what made Nellie so special ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Visit EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum at epicchq.com. And please consider donating to Westinsfund.org. "Standing there alone among strange peo...
St. Francis of Assisi attached himself to a band of crusaders in the hopes that when he met the sultan in Egypt, his words could dissuade everyone from fighting. I asked a monk named Stephen who lives in Assisi whether he was successful ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Donate to http://westinsfund.org to help cover the medical costs of families who lose children to miscarriage and stillbirth. "Grant that I may not so much seek to be ...
Vincent Van Gogh left the Netherlands to paint the South of France near the end of his life and created some of the most famous and lasting works in his short career there. I asked Marion Ley of the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. "There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." —Vincent Van Gogh
PJ Murphy dresses like a chemist to greet the visitors to Sweny’s Pharmacy who come to Dublin to experience James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses. At Kennedy’s Pub and Station across the street—that Joyce surely visited as well—before a lovely warm live audience, I asked how PJ ended up at the center of such a moving literary pilgrimage ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Westin’s Fund (http://westinsfund.org) is a foundation started by my broth...
John Steinbeck packed up his dog and a few belongings into a camper he christened Rocinante and set out on the road late in life to discover America. I asked the head archivist at the National Steinbeck Center why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Visit the National Steinbeck Center at www.steinbeck.org. And learn more about their upcoming festival, In Search of America, on August 2 and 3—www.steinbeck.org/event/steinbeck-festival-201...
Mikey spent years as a helicopter pilot before becoming to a storyteller. You can see his filmmaking at MikeyKay.com. I asked how he approaches interviewing—in other words how he deals with “the observer effect” ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Visit www.MikeyKay.com to see his films. Donate to Westinsfund.org. "Your thought kindled a fire beside you that showed a path." Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri
Ryan needed a place to decompress after serving in the military, so he went to L’Abri, a communal living center in the English countryside. I asked what exactly it was that reversed his political stance ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé. Donate to westinsfund.org to help cover the costs of families who have miscarriages. “So hadde I spoken with hem everichon That I was of hir felawshipe anon.” —Chaucer
Joe ditched his drone in the middle of a herd of cattle in Scotland. The question was how to get it out again. I asked how travel shapes his creativity building the props for the Star Wars movies ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé and Grupo Sonkoy. Consider donating to www.kiva.org or www.westinsfund.org. “Whole castles have vanished from my memory, whole cities I have never visited again.” —Ford Madox Ford
Gabriel and his girlfriend left Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to travel the entire world. We met in Valparaíso, Chile nine months in. I asked what could make them leave paradise ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. Donate to Westin's Fund—westinsfund.org "Je te reconnaître dans tous les hommes." —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Dominik moved to Berlin to become a poet, which makes him uniquely suited to tell the story of a visit to Auschwitz. I asked why he thought the German capital would change him ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. Donate to Westin's Fund at http://www.westinsfund.org/ "May they be safe where it is told." —Peig Sayers
Caleb moved his family to Panama to begin a teaching career. I asked if he would pick me up at the airport after we met on Twitter ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician, Dana Boulé. Donate to Westin’s Fund, a group that defrays the medical costs for families who lose children to miscarriages at westinsfund.org . “Keep reaching out to the Unknown in others, whatever the odds.” —Graham Murtaugh...
Emma once lived at a kibbutz in Israel. I asked what it takes to integrate in the Irish countryside ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. "Suppose you do find a premise in your wanderings." —Lajos Egri
Jeannette and her golden retriever, Bram, host the best Airbnb that I have ever stayed at—a barn in a village just outside Amsterdam. I asked why the landscape looks so much like the paintings by the Dutch masters ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. Visit her website to learn more about the work she does: http://www.oasefoundation.eu/project/101 "To look at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots of a...
Peter oversees the creation of the most wonderful gelato in Rome, at Fata Morgana Gelato. Though Italian by ancestry, he grew up in Canada and moved to the bel paese only later. I asked what it felt like to immigrate ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. "I wander and wander along, and forever before me gleams the shining city of song." —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Cristina took us into the Real Maestranza, Seville’s cathedral of bullfighting, when no one else was there. I asked what to look for when the season started the following day ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. "A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it." —Virginia Woolf
Christopher decided to simplify his life and move into a van. I asked a number of logistical questions ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. Follow Christopher on Instagram: CHIGUY79 https://www.instagram.com/chiguy79/?hl=en Donate to Westin's Fund, a charity that relieves the financial burden of grieving families: http://westinsfund.org "Have the courage to digress." —John McPhee
Sam rode his new bike from Ireland to Prague where we met in front of the Lennon Wall, a living memorial layered over in years of graffiti. Decades ago, Beatles quote scribbled there launched the Velvet Revolution. I asked what words he added ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musicians, Dana Boulé. Follow Michal Oliver Music on Facebook→ "Oh to be a sparrowhawk." —Anonymous Troubadour, Eleventh Century
